[GNC] Nesting too deep for budget?

[Adrien Monteleone]

As you have discovered, the Budget module is showing its age and needs some TLC.

I haven’t checked the documentation in some time, but perhaps it needs some refreshing as well.

Due to limited developer time, I don’t expect the module itself to be updated any time soon, but contributions are always welcome on the documentation front, which, while not solving the usability and discoverability issue, would at least provide some guidance for new users on how to navigate the budget window.

It is unfortunate even documentation work has such a high entry bar, but it is doable. At the very least, please look over Bugzilla and file bugs or enhancement requests for those parts you think can be improved. (some already exist and may well address the issues you’ve encountered)

Regards,
Adrien

> On Jan 31, 2020 w5d31, at 3:48 PM, Nate Bargmann <n0nb at n0nb.us> wrote:
> 
> * On 2020 31 Jan 15:17 -0600, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>> Nate,
>> 
>> 
>> First, the budget by default, I don’t think, shows any ‘cells’ like
>> you would think of them in a spreadsheet. You can turn on faint grey
>> lines here by going to Preferences > General > General and then
>> checking off the two options to “Enable horizontal/vertical grid lines
>> on table displays”. This may also show the grid lines in other places
>> you may not want, so toggle as needed. 
> 
> Thanks Adrien.
> 
>> Note also, you have to double-click where the cells are supposed to be
>> to get the entry field. There is a way to tab/enter around the table,
>> but it is quite cumbersome.
> 
> Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh
> 
> Well.  That was totally NOT described in the manual.  At least not in
> the Gudgets chapter.  Everywhere else in GC there is a defined grid and
> an obvious entry box and in this form, NOTHING?  Sorry, I am venting a
> bit as this is a severe UI deviation and had me frustrated enough that I
> went out and got the mail!
> 
>> It does not play nice like a spreadsheet app.
>> 
>> Second, the column order in the Budget module should be
>> 
>> Accounts 1st period 2nd period ...  Total
>> 
>> The dates of those periods are determined by how you set up the
>> budget, which can be changed with the ‘Options’ toolbar button.
>> 
>> So the first column has account names.
>> 
>> The second and subsequent columns are for each period.
>> 
>> If you enter amounts in the child accounts, the parent cells will show
>> the sum of those entries in a grey font.
>> 
>> You *could* enter amounts for the parents, but in this case you don’t
>> want to.
>> 
>> Also, be aware that parent accounts (maybe only those set as
>> placeholders, I don’t recall) Will show “0.00” in light grey font for
>> any parts of the tree that don’t have entries yet. But the child
>> accounts will have nothing there in the cell. The cell will be
>> completely blank. And if you don’t have the grid lines turned on, that
>> row will look like a blank, white (empty) row. But just double-click
>> where you think the cell ought to be and you’ll get the entry field.
> 
> I suppose there is a sound reason why only a parent account shows a
> total of 0.00 and leaf accounts are completely blank, but I fail to see
> it.  I'm hardly a newbie when it comes to GUIs and such.  As I am doing
> a yearly budget I have three columns and I had double-clicked/pressed
> Enter on the "Account Name" and "Total" columns as there are characters
> in those columns.  It never occurred to me to try double-clicking the
> completely blank "01/01/2020" column for the leaf accounts row!
> 
> Regardless, I think this really needs to be a tip in the manual's
> Budgets chapter and given the rest of the UI, this was NOT intuitive at
> all.
> 
>> The Filter settings are not remembered. You have to reset them each
>> time you open the Budget. I think there is a bug filed on this
>> already.
> 
> In fact, it seems as though the subsequent times that it is opened that
> the filter is ineffective.  I didn't play with it extensively, however.
> 
> Thanks for you patient answers, Adrien.  GC is helping me so much that
> this UI inconsistency really was unexpected and threw me for a loop
> especially with parent accounts showing values and the leaf accounts
> being blank.
> 
> I am on my way, now.
> 
> - Nate